eliovson@aecom.UUCP (Moshe Eliovson) (04/30/85)
Flashy title isn't it? Recently I read a book by Stephen Brust aptly named Jhereg. ------ Unfortunately again I do not have the text with me, however the concept I am about to introduce should not be too difficult for all of you to grasp. Links. The book claims that witchcraft is more psionics than magic. Sorcery it claims stems from an orb created from the Great Sea of Chaos. Now, we are not so much concerned with this ulterior aspect of magic so much as a certain seen where the center character had to cast an extremely powerful spell (at long distance). Try not to focus on the range side of this though. He had with him his jhereg familiar, a rather powerful psionic familiar with a rather powerful poison bite, his wife, also a witch, and one whose specialty was psi. He begins the spell and links his mind to his wife. (He is permanently linked with his familiar). His wife performs a chant to increase power. He begins the spell. The jhereg monitors and adds to the power. There is too much power for him to contain, but the link divides the force. The Psi master now decides to help and nearly fries the central character's brain with his power but again the familiar helps. The spell ends up succesful. 1) Although this is a treasure chest for psionic pc's this isn't my focal point. The main point is, the spell needed great power and in order to provide it with it four people expended energy. 2) Saving throws required during this process, at +2 per person already linked. 3) familiars count - as we can see, the imp or quasit adds a level to the spell caster, so does (any) familiar in this instance since there is a PERMANENT link. How does this come into spells? Well, I recently dm'd a module with some cursed boots. The only way to remove them was with a dispel magic or 12th level (or lim. wish, alter reality, etc.). The module, written by Robert Kuntz & Gygax meantioned that if the pc's joined their force and it equaled or exceeded 12 levels of x.p. it would dispel just as well. AHA!!!! Don't throw away those 1st level MU henchmen! You can use up one of their spell points and add an extra die to your fireball! Thus, three pc's casting a Curse might not have to touch, although the range would be short- and the curse would be of their combined level and power (with a capital P). The rule is: The more the miserabler! I think that the possibilities are endless: let's get your views... "UltraChaos, Inc." Moshe Eliovson ...!philabs!aecom!eliovson
shp@crystal.UUCP (04/30/85)
> > Links. > > Don't throw away those 1st level MU henchmen! You can > use up one of their spell points and add an extra die to your > fireball! > > Thus, three pc's casting a Curse might not have to touch, > although the range would be short- and the curse would be of their > combined level and power (with a capital P). The rule is: The more > the miserabler! > > I think that the possibilities are endless: let's get your > views... > > "UltraChaos, Inc." > > Moshe Eliovson > ...!philabs!aecom!eliovson My views.....ever read through TFT? You should. If memory serves, instead of the "read magic" spell, brand-new magic-types come equipped with the "aid" spell. It can succeed or fail, as per everything else (usually, roll 3d6 against dex, but then, TFT is stripped). The points are additive, subject to the normal side- effects of "special" rolls: rolling a 4 is an automatic double, and rolling a 3 triples. We once calculated what you could do at a MU's convention with lots of "limited wish"-like spells to affect dierolls. Start with a "battery" of cheap labor, in a tree (structure, not literally). The focal point of this starts the magnification string: each (high-level) mage has a limited wish to ensure he rolls a three. Say, ten guys to triple each. 10^3 magnification, applied to maybe 2000 points to begin with? Anyway, you get the idea.....somewhere in the mag array, the guy burns to a crisp (YOU try running an arc welder through 30ga copper wire!). Still, 10,000,000-dice fireballs COULD be fun.... =shp
trudel@topaz.ARPA (Jon Trudel) (05/01/85)
<Oh, mighty line-eater, accept this meager offering> Hello, This is my first posting to this group, but I'd like to add my two cp's worth to the discussion. I used to DM a group of people who were quite affluent when in came to D&D (4 or them were also DM's), and I was a DM who was quite liberal in awarding magic, experience, and the like. I too resorted to the sort of traps that were instant kill, ie. 'you open the door, but you failed to see the trap that is now killing you.' I never liked doing this, because the players were extremely annoyed about losing characters that they had played with for months. This type of play never sat well with me, and I eventually stopped DMming. Now, let me say that I have no qualms about having characters that are godlike. I just have an aversion to the idea of wasting a PC simply for that fact. If a DM is going to let the characters be so powerful, s/he should use that fact, and expand on them. What I mean is, 1) Get the characters involved with NPC's who are just as competant and just as powerful as they are, but of an opposing alignment. The idea of a nemesis has always been a favorite of mine, and the DM can be really crafty in creating them. I'm not suggesting anti-PC's that are evil(good?) clones of the PC's, but NPC's of equal, if not greater strength. 2) I know this one is a real hassle for a DM, but wars are a real test of character :-) Simply put, get the PC's entangled in 'interstate intreague' Have some political crisis emerge around the players where they are forced to join the fray. Real benefits from this are the emergence of tactics beyond the usual cast, charge, and attack. If the DM handles this well, large conflicts can really put a character's own skills to the test, and not his or her magic. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I prefer a game that has difficulty. I never appreciated playing frp games where everything was practically a giveaway. Maybe I'm being too picky (and you can quote me), but I like a nice balance of losses and gains, with more emphasis on the gains bit. (oh, oh, here I go, up on my Tenser's disk) Life is supposed to be like that. Salt Salt, Twist and Bake, Jon Trudel ps-flames about what frp gaming is supposed to be will gladly be accepted by me, so send them to me, and not the net, unless I touched a nerve...
eliovson@aecom.UUCP (Moshe Eliovson) (05/06/85)
> > Low level MUs combining power to produce higher level spells? > > Hmm > > Isn't there a saying, that goes something like: > "Too many cooks cannot be coordinated, bungle the spell and turn each > other into bald peaches." > Yes. > But the idea has some distinct possibilities... > the need for covens, large numbers of participants in rituals etc. > In one of the first Fafhard & The Grey Mouser stories The Mouser went to a Place of Evil (similar to Places of Power in other stories) and used this to cast a high level curse - of course it was killing him, I suspect burning his soul etc. Covens and Places of Power enhance themselves by drawing on major benign/malevolent sources. I do not say all witchcraft does this though. Further, this is why I say Clerical spell points will be more quickly restored in churches of the same alignment, etc. > I would favour employing the Law of Diminishing Returns: > 2 second-level MUs make one 3rd level MU > 2 third-levels make a fourth level > etc > > maybe even more severe, as this makes 16 first-levels equal one 5th level, > which is dubious. I never said this. I go by your bungling rule above here. High level spells require extensive training and mental discipline to control the spell's fabric and the forces it calls upon. Therefore I said, the high level mage could call upon the "mental force / psychic link" or whatever to pour more power into his spells. While a whole bunch of first level mages could possibly make an extensive magic missile, an attempt at a fireball would prove fatal to all- unless scroll rules apply. *** UltraChaos Rules *** Moshe Eliovson philabs!aecom!eliovson
mccolm@ucla-cs.UUCP (05/08/85)
In article <5093@ukc.UUCP> ncg@ukc.UUCP (Nigel Gale) writes: > >Low level MUs combining power to produce higher level spells? Keep in mind that some nerdly character will hire 2000 acolytes, just to be able to enchant items at third level. >But the idea has some distinct possibilities... >the need for covens, large numbers of participants in rituals etc. If you're running a spell-point system, the advantages of a powerful magician getting mana from a lot of followers is obvious. But there should be some entropic effect, just to make sure that the WHOLE human race won't become magician's apprentices. The concept of the congregation, the coven, the circle, and other such *collections* of magically-oriented people has no game-based foundation, except as a source of acolytes, unless the leader of such a group can take advantage of the power of the group to work mightier magic than otherwise would be possible. But it's a good idea that the leader of the group must have the knowledge to cast the spell on his/her own, just so there's some innate limits to such activities. -fini- -Eric Shade and sweet water... !{ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax,cepu}!ucla-cs!mccolm
ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale) (05/08/85)
Low level MUs combining power to produce higher level spells? Hmm Isn't there a saying, that goes something like: "Too many cooks cannot be coordinated, bungle the spell and turn each other into bald peaches." But the idea has some distinct possibilities... the need for covens, large numbers of participants in rituals etc. I would favour employing the Law of Diminishing Returns: 2 second-level MUs make one 3rd level MU 2 third-levels make a fourth level etc maybe even more severe, as this makes 16 first-levels equal one 5th level, which is dubious.